


Cross The Sky

by KaytiKazoo



Series: Half of a Shared Soul [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actor Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski are Soulmates, M/M, Past Jennifer Blake/Derek Hale, Protective Cora Hale, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 08:12:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5241080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles helped bring Isaac and Scott together, so Isaac in turn helps Stiles meet his own soulmate, Oscar award winning actor Derek Hale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cross The Sky

“ _You can be Han Solo. And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you_.”  – Eleanor and Park; Rainbow Rowell

Stiles  Stilinski  was not  nervous. He wasn’t. Truly. Really.  

Okay, so Stiles was nervous and a liar. It didn’t matter, because he would be meeting someone in a few minutes that could possibly, maybe, somehow be in contact with his soulmate. It didn’t matter if he was scared or nervous or elated, because he had to meet this person anyway. He had to give it a shot. He had to.

He would hate himself for the rest of his life if he backed out now because what if this is the only chance to meet his soulmate?

Well, the only chance to meet someone who can help him meet his soulmate.

He felt a little ridiculous.

In truth, he felt a lot ridiculous, but he had been feeling this person his entire life. He was excited to be one step closer to actually seeing their face, and potentially holding their hands. He  really  wanted to hold their hands. He didn’t care if they were drop dead gorgeous or an average Mary Sue kind of person, he wanted to slide his fingers between theirs and just be near them.

Jackson would so kick his ass for being this mushy, if he ever heard Stiles talking this way, but whatever, Stiles knew what Jackson would do for Lydia.

Jackson and Lydia were so lucky, soulmates born in the same town, growing up together and knowing each other since pre-school. Stiles had only known two people that long, Scott and Heather, and neither of them were his soulmate.  But sometimes he liked to imagine what it would’ve been like if Stiles had had his soulmate to grow up with, if Heather’s Mark matched his instead of Caitlin’s, or Scott’s didn't match Isaac' s . 

But he saw how happy Heather and Caitlin were, dopey with love and, well, sex. 

And Scott was at home in his own bed and healing finally, Isaac coming up during his days off to be there with him. Stiles was pretty sure that Isaac had spent more time in Beacon Hills with Scott than he had at home since Scott had been released from the veterans hospital. 

Except for right now, Isaac's hand guiding Stiles into a generic coffee shop near Isaac's school. It was moderately busy, most tables filled with college kids, notebooks and laptops and textbooks piled up around them, half-empty mugs of extra espresso shot coffees sitting abandoned as they study hard for their upcoming finals. Stiles knew how that was, considering he had just finished his Law and Criminal Justice final earlier that day. He had to finish his paper for his  four-hundred level criminology research capstone  before Monday, but he also needed to meet this person.

"It'll be fine," he reassured him. "She's not that  scary."

"You told me that she's like a hungry wolf," Stiles protested.

"That's true, but she won't eat you alive." 

"I don't believe that, you know."

Isaac shrugged and led them both to a table near the back of the coffee shop. There was a stunning woman maybe a year older than them sitting at the table, sleek dark hair pulled up into a ponytail while she highlighted her textbook and switched between her notebook and her laptop. Isaac had refused to tell him anything about her because, according to Isaac, he didn't want to give Stiles the research opportunity. 

"I need you going into this like you never have no idea what's going to happen," he had explained as Stiles tried to pry information from him.

Isaac pushed Stiles into the booth and the woman looked up at them as if she hadn't noticed their approach. Her eyes tracked over Stiles and then went to Isaac as he sat down beside Stiles, her expression changing as she found a familiar face.

"Isaac Lahey! It's about time you showed your face in this town besides to deliver pizzas!"

"I saw you yesterday," Isaac retorted. 

"Yeah, when you delivered my pizza. That doesn't count."

"A guy has got to make a living."

"And the rest of your time?"

Isaac grinned.

"I've been spending it with Scott."

She smiled back.

"This him?" she asked, nodding to Stiles.

"Scott? No."

She laughed, and she had a great laugh. It lit up her entire face, crinkling her eyes in the corners. She was terrifying and unapproachable until she smiled. 

"I figured that. I meant is this my brother's soulmate?"

"I think so. This is Stiles Stilinski-"

"Are you serious? Your name is Stiles Stilinski ?" she interrupted. 

"It's much more manageable than my real name, I assure you," Stiles replied.

"What's your real name?" she asked, putting her studying supplies aside to lean over the table towards him. 

"That is between me and potentially your brother," he  countered. "So, what's your name?"

"Cora."

"It's nice to meet you, Cora. So, I'm assuming you have questions for me."

"I do. I want to make sure you're legitimate. I trust Isaac's judgment, that's why you're here, but I'm very protective of my brother. I want to know you're one hundred percent before you go anywhere near him."

"Is your brother the President of the United States or something? Are you his bodyguard?"

"Do you want to meet him or not?" she snapped. 

"Sorry. What do you want to ask?"

"I just want to get to know you, determine for myself whether or not you're a good person."

Stiles sat forward, facing Cora as she shuffled her belongings. 

"Okay, so, tell me about yourself. Where'd you grow up, what's your family like, are you in college," she said.

"Well, I grew up in Northern California, in a little town called Beacon Hills. I was raised by my dad, who is the Sheriff of the county, and my mom until I was nine  when she died. My dad remarried a few years ago, to Melissa McCall, who is Isaac's soulmate's mom, so Scott is my step-brother but he's been my brother since we met in pre-school. I am in college, I go to UCLA where I study criminology, and I also have a minor in linguistics. I want to enter the police academy when I graduate and become a deputy working with my dad in Beacon Hills afterwards."

"I'm sorry about your mom," 

"Thanks," Stiles said with a nod. He'd been hearing it for twelve years. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry about your mom. I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He understood the sentiment, but sorry didn't bring her back. Sorry didn't make his house smell like her perfume, or his heart hurt any less. Sorry didn't make her famous Sunday morning chocolate chip pancakes.

"Do you like men?"

"Wow, Cora, subtle," Isaac snorted.

"No, it's a valid concern," Stiles said, resting his hand on Isaac's forearm. "Her brother's a man, so she needs to make sure that I'm actually attracted to men. It makes sense. And yes, I am."

She nodded.

"Lemme see it."

"Cora," Isaac scolded. 

"You tugged your collar over."

"Yeah because we've known each other since freshman year. Stiles just met you."

"It's okay. I figured it was coming."

He raised his arm and tugged up his shirt sleeve. On the middle of his inner bicep, dark as night was a crooked, blurry heart shape that took up most of the space available. He hated it. Goddamn, he hated that mysterious smudge on his arm. 

No one even knew what caused soulmates to start cropping up, or what the Mark shape meant. 

"That's exactly it. I wasn't sure when Isaac showed me the picture, but that is definitely the same shape. Everyone always makes it a little too crooked, or a little too neat. But I've seen it enough times to know that that is the same crooked little heart. "

Stiles glanced between Cora and Isaac, confused.

"What are you talking about? Are there a lot of peo-"

"Yes," Isaac and Cora chorused. 

"That's weird and cryptic."

Cora smiled. 

"I'll talk to him, and see what he thinks. Can I get your number? That way we don't have to use Isaac like a messenger."

"That would be greatly appreciated."

* * *

** To: Cora **

** Any progress? **

****

** From: Cora **

** Be patient, he's a tough cookie **

****

** To: Cora **

** I'm not good at being patient **

****

** From: Cora **

** He doesn't want to talk about soulmates, so it'll take him a while to warm up to the idea **

****

** To: Cora **

** What if he never does? **

****

** From: Cora **

** My brother, despite what's happened to him, is a romantic, and he just needs to be able to trust you **

****

** To: Cora **

** Are you sure? **

****

** From: Cora **

** He's one of my best friends as well as my brother. Of course, I'm sure. **

****

** To: Cora **

** Just keep me updated. **

****

** From: Cora **

** I'm gonna try again tomorrow **

* * *

It took Cora three and a half weeks before Cora's brother even began to think about the idea. Stiles wasn't sure what was up with him that it took almost a month to conside  meeting with his soulmate. What kind of pain and betrayal must he have gone through? Who hurt his soulmate this bad that he no longer trusted the world to bring his real soulmate into his life?

This is why the Registry was an awful creation.

Stiles had tried, once, but had gotten so many trolls and fetishizers messaging him to try and get with him in dark alleys. He wasn't into that, as crazy as that sounded. People drew on their skin with thick black permanent markers in order to try and convince him but he knew it wasn't them. They never felt genuine when they messaged him. They probably had about a dozen profiles ready for when they met someone they wanted to fuck, just waiting for a new permanent marker scribble. 

All it took was looking not for his own soulmate, but his brother's. He found Isaac, and Isaac in turn led him to Cora.

Cora, as frightening and wolf-like as she was, was also a great person. She was funny, and sarcastic, and just really great to talk to. They talked about more than just her brother, a man that she refused to name, so he was forced to refer to him solely as "Cora's brother" or "soulmate." 

They talked about everything, just like Stiles and Isaac, or Stiles and Scott did. He was glad to have friends like this, friends that he could message in class when he was supposed to be listening to his professors lecture. They talked about the dumbest shit, too. Stiles' favorite story from Cora was of her oldest sister running away from home when she was twelve years old, because she couldn't have two scoops of ice cream with her birthday cake. 

** From: Cora **

** Mom freaked out, followed her out of the house and into the forest and she just screamed at her as loud as she could. My mom has a loud ass voice, too. Laura came home with this sad, embarrassed look on her face. **

****

** To: Cora **

** What did she say to explain that? **

****

** From: Cora **

** She said that she had been a brat and that even though it was her own birthday, she didn't deserve to have extra ice cream **

****

** From: Cora **

** She also said that because she had been such a brat and everyone had been such good sports that everyone else deserved extra ice cream  **

****

** From: Cora **

** She lives in New York now, and I miss her **

* * *

** From: Cora **

** I gave him your number. Let me know if he uses it. Let me know if he doesn't so I can talk to him. **

It took her brother three days to send him a text message.

** From: Unknown Number **

** Hi Stiles, my name is Derek, Cora's brother. **

****

** To: Cora **

** Holy shit Cora he texted me your brother has made contact what do I say? **

****

** From: Cora **

** Maybe start with hello **

****

** To: Cora **

** Fuck off **

****

** To: Derek **

** Hi! It's good to hear from you **

****

** To: Derek **

** Sorry if that was weird I don't know how to handle this situation **

****

** From: Derek **

** Me neither **

****

** From: Derek **

** Cora's been talking about you for a while that I feel like I should know you a lot better than I do? **

****

** To: Derek **

** She hasn't really told me anything about you, if that makes you feel better **

****

** To: Derek **

** She didn't even give me your name **

****

** From: Derek **

** Do you think we could meet?  **

****

** From: Derek **

** I have to know for sure before we get any further **

****

** To: Derek **

** Any further than our names? **

****

** From: Derek **

** Well it sounds dickish if you put it like that **

****

** To: Derek **

** Dickish or not, I understand. I'm free all weekend except for Sunday afternoon, I have to study for an exam  **

****

** From: Derek **

** Saturday, then? Noon? **

****

** To: Derek **

** Works for me **

****

** To: Derek **

** Should we meet somewhere halfway or **

****

** From: Derek **

** I can come to your campus, if that's alright. Cora said you go to UCLA? **

****

** To: Derek **

** Yeah, I do and it's perfectly okay for you to come here. We could just meet in the big quad, public but not overrun? **

****

** From: Derek **

** Okay, I'll see you on Saturday then **

****

** To: Cora **

** Your brother is very.... short **

****

** From: Cora  **

** He's like six feet tall! **

****

** To: Cora **

** Cora **

****

** From: Cora **

** Oh, you mean how he texts **

****

** From: Cora **

** I'm an idiot **

****

** From: Cora **

** Yeah he's a little socially awkward **

****

** From: Cora **

** If Mr. Darcy texted, it would look like Derek's message history **

****

** To: Cora **

** Can you not make P&P references at me? I'm trying to hold onto my dignity **

****

** From: Cora **

** Lol dignity **

* * *

** To: Isaac, Scott, Cora **

** GUYS I CAN'T HANDLE THIS I'M NOT READY  **

****

** From: Isaac **

** You'll be fine, just breathe deeply **

****

** From: Scott **

** Do you remember what your mom told you on one of her last lucid days? You were worrying about never meeting your soulmate and if you met them, you thought they might hate you? **

****

** From: Scott **

** What did she say? **

****

** To: Scott **

** That the prevailing theory was that everyone was formed from the explosion of a star, and that soulmates are just matter that came from the same supernova event **

****

** To: Scott **

** And that anyone forged in the same star as me was bound to be perfect for me **

****

** From: Cora **

** YOU GO MEET MY BROTHER OR I KILL YOU **

****

** From: Cora **

** If it helps, he's also kind of freaking out.  **

****

** To: Cora **

** Why would that help!? **

****

** From: Cora **

** Idk??? You're not alone in all of this??? Don't ask me! It just always helps me to know that someone is experiencing the same shit as me! **

****

** To: Cora **

** Promise me that you're not going to become a life coach **

****

** From: Cora **

** I promise **

****

** From: Cora **

** Now, go get him! **

* * *

Stiles saw him as soon as he walked into the quad, and awkwardly tugged at his best plaid shirt to pull it into place again. He took a deep breath and walked across the grass to where he was sitting at a picnic table. He really should've insisted they had a mediator who knew them both, like Isaac and Scott could've had when they met. He was too awkward and nervous to just meet his soulmate and  not  put his foot in his mouth. At least a common acquaintance, or you know, Cora could try and ease the awkwardness.

Although, that could come across as Stiles not trusting Derek.

And to be fair, Cora wouldn't ease anything. She would point and laugh and make fun of them.

Maybe it was better this way.

Yeah, it had to be.

And if this completely tanked, they could try again with Cora's help. Maybe.

As Stiles drew close, he had to steady his breathing because there was no way that he was Stiles' soulmate. The Universe wasn't that nice. Because that man wasn't just good looking, he was the pinnacle of attractive. Adonis was probably jealous of the sheer unadulterated beauty this man just exuded. The Universe gave Stiles Adonis and Derek a potato for a soulmate. It was funny how cruel this matchup actually was. 

Derek looked up as Stiles stepped from the path closest to the table on back onto the grass. He looked familiar but Stiles wasn't sure where he had seen his face before. His eyes were green, blue, gray, flecked with gold, lined with dark lashes, tucked below insanely thick eyebrows. 

"Hi," Stiles said, reaching up to ruffle his own hair. 

"Hi Stiles," Derek said, his eyes roaming over Stiles' face slowly. That voice, Stiles had heard it before.  

"Holy shit, I know you," Stiles blurted, and watched as Derek's face fell. "You work with that charity that provides sports equipment for inner city schools up and down the West Coast ! What was that called, oh my god, I worked with the LA branch for credit."

Derek's impressive eyebrows quirked up at him.

"You worked with Play It Forward?" Derek asked.

"Yes! That's it! I remember a couple of years ago, they got major league players to play with the kids!"

"You remember that?"

"Yeah! David Wright came to play and coach a couple of teams in LA, and it was just amazing."

"David Wright? You're a Mets fan?" Derek asked with a snort.

Stiles slid into the spot across from Derek and rolled his eyes.

"And I'll assume you're a Dodgers fan like the rest of California?"

Derek laughed, and it was an amazing laugh. 

"So you don't know me other than that?"

"Am I supposed to?" Stiles asked. 

"Do you not watch movies?" Derek countered. Stiles shrugged.

"Depends on the mov\- Are you telling me that you're in movies? Are you serious?"

Derek just kind of stared at Stiles, mouth open as if in awe or shock. He stared, and stared, until he started laughing.

"You are incredible," he informed Stiles. "Not to sound conceited, but I won an Oscar last year. How have you not-"

Stiles shrugged.

"You are incredible," Derek repeated. "I wanna be honest with you about who I am, but I need to make sure that you are who Cora thinks you are."

Stiles stood up, and moved around to the other side of the picnic table. He knew the only way to really know was touching the Mark, seeing it up close. Stiles pulled the plaid shirt off and dropped it into his lap. 

"Okay, before I do this, can I point out how fucking dumb it is to have a soul Mark that's literally shaped like a heart? How fucking telenovela is that?"

Derek's entire expression softened as he looked at Stiles.

"You are incredible," he said for a third time.

Stiles rolled his eyes and then rolled up the sleeve of his t-shirt. He held his arm so that Derek could see it.

"There was this girl a couple of years ago, Jennifer, who told me that she was my soulmate. She got the best Mark tattoo artist in the entire world to give her an identical Mark. She put hers on her thigh, too. It looked so real," he said, shaking his head. He reached out a hand, visibly trembling. "Can I?"

"Yeah," he said with a smile.

Derek's fingertips touched the skin of his bicep, but not quite his Mark. 

"You know how I knew that she wasn't my soulmate?" he asked, walking his fingers carefully onto the dark Mark. They both stopped breathing for a moment, a flood of excited pleasure rushing through the bond between them. Stiles leaned into the touch, sighing in relief. "Jesus. How can just touching you feel this good?"

Stiles slide his hand up into Derek's, holding it away from his skin. 

"Too fast?" Derek chuckled.

"You were saying something," Stiles reminded him. "About how you knew."

"She hid it from me for over a year, fooled me into thinking I had found the person who was made for me. But then we were watching a movie together. She was snuggled into my side on the couch, eating popcorn, when the bond flared up with anxiety and panic. And she was fine. She was happy. I had thought all of the emotions that had come through before then, she was just really good at hiding, but there was no way. I had felt it from you before, panic attacks. There was no way that she could hide that much panic and fear. That's when I knew."

He reached up with his free hand and rolled Stiles' sleeve back down. It was so innocent, but intimate. 

"How did she know about the Mark in the first place?"

"My family and I went to a beach and I was wearing trunks that didn't cover my Mark all the way, and some paparazzi  snagged a photo of it. They leaked it, and then ever since, people get fake Marks and propose marriage to me, and-"

"That explains Cora," Stiles replied. 

"No, that's less to do with the people and more to do with me."

"What do you mean?" 

"After Jennifer, I refused to even look at my Mark, let alone talk about it or you. I couldn't think about it. I let someone in and got hurt again. I wouldn't let anyone mention my Mark, or try and talk to me about it, and the more Cora and Laura and my mom tried to get me to talk about it, the more I shut myself off from them. So they stopped asking. I stopped thinking about it. And they got very protective of me. That explains Cora. "

"It's good that you have them," Stiles said. He hadn't released Derek's hand yet, too drunk on his touch and proximity to care. Derek was playing with the bottom of Stiles' shirt sleeve absently, like he didn't realize he was still touching Stiles. "You deserve the very best."

"You don't even know me," Derek whispered.

"I know that you've been happier recently than you have been in a while, that you do great charity work that I completely endorse, and Cora seems to think pretty highly of you," Stiles said, reaching to push Derek's hair behind his ear. "I trust Cora, and besides my mom always taught me to give people the benefit of the doubt. I struggle with that sometimes but she also told me you came from the same stardust as me. "

"What?"

"Same stardust, it's a Claudia thing," Stiles said. "I'll explain some other time. The point is that we're actual soulmates. You and me are made from the same stuff. I would be stupid, or whatever, not to believe that you're a good person."

"Same stardust, from an exploding star event," Derek said. 

"Yeah, my mom was an astronomer. She wholly believed that the Universe was infinite enough that soulmates were inevitable. The same matter from a supernova would attract itself somehow. She believed that we would find each other somehow, some day."

"Your mother sounds amazing."

"She really was. I think she would've loved you." 

Derek leaned in and before Stiles knew it, Derek was kissing him. And it was unreal. Isaac and Scott had both described it as indescribable, like floating and sinking, like bolts of lightning were shooting through them. It was all of that and so much more, like flying and falling, running and laying down, bolts of ecstatic lightning and waves of unadulterated joy. It was everything and nothing. They had said it was like their individual bonds had joined, and Stiles wasn't sure given that he didn't know what Derek's bond felt like. It felt, though, as if they were anchored down, held safe to the floor, but also like they were wrapped up tight in thick blankets, tea and soup sitting in their bellies. They were warm and safe, not at risk of drifting away.

When they pulled away, Stiles studied Derek's face. If they were made from space particles, all of the stars had settled in Derek's eyes. 

"Same stardust," Stiles decided, because they had to have been. He didn't care if he was a potato and Derek a Greek myth, if the same stardust that made him had somehow managed to make that wonderful being in front of him. They were made from the same stuff, the same star, the same galaxy, the same hydrogen, helium, carbon, iron. They were soulmates, he thought, stroking the side of Derek's face. 

Maybe he would fall into the thirty-three percent divorce rate. Maybe they would burn hot and bright like supergiant stars, and they would explode violently into dark void. But until then, he was willing to give Derek everything he had, and hope that Derek would give the same.


End file.
